Primeval Abroad
by MrandMrsTemple
Summary: The anomaly team is off for their summer holidays, but they're not in for a creature free time. Conby and Secker and featuring Baby Nick, Abby and Connor's son . Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Primeval Abroad

Chapter One

James Lester looked at the small clock on his desk with deep loathing. It was that time of year that is widely hated by rich CEOs such as himself, the time when everyone leaves work so you can't order them around, the summer time. Any minute now the clock would be going off and then...

There was a loud ringing from the clock, Lester growled and turned it off. Afterwards, he walked out onto the walkway overlooking the ARC. It was just as he feared, everyone was abandoning their work and going home.

"And just what do you all think you're doing?"

Danny looked up at his boss.

"It's the summer holidays, so we're off. See you in September, Lester!"

Lester groaned and walked slowly down the sloping walkway, as he did so, Sarah turned and went up to him. Becker waited for her by the door.

"Well, Sarah" said Lester. "Would I be hoping false hope in thinking that you are actually going to do your job over the summer."

"I'm afraid so, Lester" replied Sarah. "Becker and I are off to Crete to celebrate our six months of being together."

"So why did you come to me?" asked Lester, not bothering to ask why he had not been told that Becker and Sarah were seeing in each other.

"Well, no real reason other than just to tell you a few things" said Sarah. "Over the summer, I'm counting on you to take care of the mammoth, the dracorex and Sid and Nancy. Now, the mammoth needs to be fed on a barrelful of hay every three hours, the dracorex needs a bucket of oats every day and I'd advise you to keep an eye on Sid and Nancy, you know how they like to escape from their pen all the time."

"I don't suppose there's any chance that Connor could take them home with him?" drawled Lester.

"No, I'm afraid not" said Sarah. "You know how he and Abby want baby Nick to have a normal life, and anyway, they're also going abroad." She caught sight of Becker beckoning to go. "Anyway, I'd best dash, we've got to be on a plane tonight and there's lots of packing to do." And she dashed off out the ARC doors, Becker followed.

Lester felt something tugging at his trouser leg, he looked down to see that it was Nancy. He sighed, it was going to be a long summer.


	2. Chapter 2

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Two

As soon as Connor got home, he was greeted by his wife, Abby. Smiling, she gave him a quick peck on both cheeks.

"I'm so glad you're home, Con. Nick and I have been sorting through travel brochures trying to decide where we should go."

"Alright, well I'll give you a hand with that then" said Connor, following his wife upstairs. As they entered the livng room, they found baby Nick on the sofa surrounded by travel brochures. He had one in his mouth and was tearing into it with his new milk teeth.

"Oi, don't eat that, Nick" said Connor. He crossed the room and gently pulled the brochure out of his son's mouth. There was a tearing sound and part of the brochure was free, the rest remained in Nick's mouth. As his son chewed on that bit of brochure, Connor took a look at the rest of it, it appeared to be a travel brochure for -ain.

"Well, that puts Spain off the list" said Connor.

"Don't worry, there's plenty more options here" said Abby sitting down next to Nick, still thoughtfully chewing on the rest of the Spain brochure. She picked up another brochure and looked at it thoughtfully, meanwhile, Connor had a look at another one.

"How does Hawaii sound?"

Abby didn't answer.

"Well, maybe we'll come back to that one" said Connor, picking up another brochure. "What about Paris, the romantic city?"

Abby still didn't answer.

"OK, well then, how about Pukhet? Lovely weather at this time of year."

Abby stood up and turned to her husband.

"Actually Connor, I was thinking about maybe going here this summer." She held up her brochure, it was one for the Galapogos islands.

"The Galapogos?" said Connor inquiringly.

"Well, you see, I remember when I was about eight years old. My mum was in one of her rare generous moods and she decided to take us to the Galapogos for a holiday. Jack hated it, I mean after all, he was never much of a nature lover. But I just fell in love with it, and that's where I got my love of lizards from. And I was just thinking, it would be a great place to take Nick. I mean when you think about it he already quite likes lizards and snakes."

"Gets that from you" said Connor.

"Yes well anyway, I just think it would be a nice place to take Nick to."

Connor turned to Nick.

"Well Nick mate? What do you think, do you wanna go to the Galapogos?"

Abby handed the brochure to Nick. Taking it in his tiny hands, he stared at it for a few moments, entranced just as his mother had been when she first laid eyes on the real thing all those years ago. Then he spat out the piece of the Spain brochure and clapped his hands together.

"I'd say that was a yes" said Abby.

Connor got up and picked his wallet up off the table.

"Well, I'd better get myself down to the travel agent's then."

As he left the flat, Abby sat down next to Nick.

"I think you're going to love the Galapogos Nick. You're going to see all those beautful islands, and there'll be loads of penguins and sea lions and giant tortoises."

Suddenly there came a chirping sound and Rex landed on the sofa in front of Nick, who giggled and cuddled the ceolurosauravus.

"Rex" he gurgled.

Abby smiled.

"Yes, I think there will be quite a few of Rex, although I'm not sure they'll have wings."


	3. Chapter 3

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Three

Sarah and Becker made their way around Knossos.

Yesterday they had hurriedly done thier packing, which had been slightly delayed as Becker had wanted to bring along his favourite gun, resulting in Sarah having to remind him that firearms were not allowed on planes. After that was sorted, they had gotten a taxi directly to Heathrow airport and had only just managed to get on their plane just as the final call for it was being announced. Finally though, they had arrived in Crete and booked into their hotel, just a stone's throw away from Knossos. The next morning, after a traditional Greek breakfast of feta cheese and olives accompanied by some crusty bread, Sarah and Becker had walked to the historical sight just on their doorstep.

Sarah looked up at the crumbling ruins of Knossos palace, covering her eyes just a bit so as to keep the bright Greek sun out of them.

"Isn't it lovely here, Becker?"

"Well, I suppose its not bad" said Becker. Sarah turned to him.

"Not bad? It's beautiful here at Knossos, you know this is where Daedalus built the labyrinth."

"The labyrinth?" said Becker quizzically. "Isn't that where that monster with a bull's head and a man's body used to live, what's it called?"

"The minotaur" said Sarah.

"Yeah, that's the one" said Becker, "Isn't that where it was said to live?"

"Yes" said Sarah. "In fact, if you'll just follow me, the labyrinth is just over here."

She lead him to a vast, cumbling and complicated looking maze.

"Legend has it" read Sarah off the Knossos brochure, "that King Minos imprisoned the minotaur within this labyrinth. But to satisfy its hunger, seven young men and seven young women from Athens had to be sent into the labyrinth every nine years, all of them would be devoured by the minotaur. The minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus."

"Right" said Becker, half gazing out at the crystal clear Aegean sea.

"Right, let's have a look at these vases" said Sarah, heading over to a display cabinet. As Becker prepared to follow her, he caught a glint in the centre of the labyrinth. No, it couldn't be could it? No, it was probably just the sun.

And so for the moment at least, the anomaly went unnoticed.


	4. Chapter 4

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Four

Danny made his way into the arrivals hall at Dallas airport.

Ever since he was a child, Danny had always wanted to go to Texas and rough it out in the wild west. Even though he knew that the days of cowboys were long over, that didn't stop Danny from wanting to go out into the wild and get the lay of the land. Out there, there were all sorts of places to go hikinh and trekking, both of which were Danny's hobbies. Back in Britain, he had booked himself a room in a motel in the town of Lakebed, which was supposed to be quite a way away from Dallas, out in the wilds of Texas.

As Danny entered the arrivals hall, he looked out for anyone holding up a card with his name on it, there it was: Quinn.

Danny went up to a small blond man holding up his card.

"Danny Quinn?"

"Yes, that's me"

"My name is Marvin Stratz, I am here to take you to your motel in Lakebed. So if you'll just follow me."

Danny followed Marvin out of the airport to a small landrover. In about half an hour, they were out of Dallas altogether, and heading into the Wild West.

"So, what's it like in Lakebed?" asked Danny, "I hear its quite good for trekking."

Marvin nodded his head. "That's true, or at least it used to be."

"Used to be?" said Danny.

"Well lately there have been rumours of unusual animal sightings in and around Lakebed, some kind of big cat apparently. So nowadays, everybody's too scared to go trekking. We were actually quite surprised to get your booking."

Danny groaned internally, he had come all this way to have a holiday, and now it looked like his work on the anomaly team had followed him to America.

* * * * * *

Danny was right.

That evening, just a few miles outside of Lakebed, a couple of foxes prowled the scrub, waiting. Waiting to tuck into the carcass of a pronghorn antelope fawn. This was not unusual, foxes usually waited around cougar or coyote kills for their share of the meat. But this animal that had killed the pronghorn was no cougar or coyote. This animal was much stockier than either of those animals, it had a short, stubby tail and its coat was a dark yellowish, and had a spotted pattern on it similar to a leopard or jaguar. But the most strinking feature of all were its enormous front teeth. This animal was a smilodon fatalis, a sabre toothed cat.

The smilodon tore chunks of meat off the pronhorn before abandoning it to the foxes. Surprisingly, there was still a lot of meat on it, but unfortunately for the smilodon, his fragile sabre teeth meant that he could not bite into bone, and that meat was too close to the bone for his sabres' liking.

As he headed away from the carcass, the smilodon's eyes caught the sight of city lights, and his nose brought in a familiar smell, human. The smilodon licked his sabre teeth, back in the Ice Age, humans were hard to catch and were considered a delicacy by most carnivores, but here, the humans were unprepared for attack by a big cat such as himself. And there was a lot more 'sabre-friendly' meat on a human than there was on an antelope.

For now, the smilodon was not hungry, the proghorn fawn had just managed to sate his hunger. But it would only last him a day, tommorow, he would hunt for human flesh.


	5. Chapter 5

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Five

Connor strapped Nick into the booster seat. Today was the day when they were due to fly to Ecuador. Once there, they would be spending one night at the local holiday inn before catching a helicopter to the Galapogos. After that, they would be spending the rest of their holiday on a tour boat, going around the islands.

Now they were just about to leave for Heathrow airport. All of the luggage was in the back of the mini, there was just one bag left and Abby had gone back into the flat to get it. But she seemed to be taking forever. Finally though, Connor shut the door of the mini and went back inside.

"Abby, what's keeping you? Our plane leaves in an hour."

Then Connor noticed her standing by herself near a chest of drawers, the suitcase was beside her. As Connor looked over Abby's shoulder, he saw what she was looking at.

In her hand, Abby held a small, framed picture taken on her first holiday to the Galapogos. There were three people standing on a white, sandy beach, surrounded by sea lions. There was a tall, blondish woman with a look on her face which made it look like she was only half-glad to be there, Mrs. Maitland. In front of her were two children, one was blond like her mother and had a boyish face and sea green eyes, Abby. The other child was a boy with longish brown hair, sulking like the spoilt brat he would be right until his death in prehistoric New Zealand, Jack.

"Abby" said Connor, "What's wrong?"

Abby sighed. "I was just bringing down that last suitcase when I noticed this. I'm sorry Connor, but I'm still finding it hard to get over what happened."

Connor sighed. Sometimes he thought his wife would never get over the fact that her brother had been devoured by a giant eagle chick, even though it was now over a year since it had happened. He took Abby and faced her.

"Ok Abby" said Connor in a gentle but firm way. "Now I know it's hard, but I need you to let go of what happened. It wasn't your fault ok? And I don't want it to ruin our holiday."

Abby sniffed and put the picture back on the chest of drawers.

"You're right Connor." She picked up the suitcase. "I'll bring this out in just a minute."

As Connor went out of the flat, Abby turned to Rex, who was now standing on the table.

"Bye Rex. We'll be back in a couple of weeks, there's enough food and water to keep you going until then."

And with that, she turned and walked out the flat.

* * * * * *

As soon as Abby's back was turned, Rex leapt off the table and into the air. Spreading his wings, he followed Abby out the flat door, then flapped higher so that the Temples wouldn't see him. Then, once Abby was in the car, Rex swooped down and landed on the roof of the mini just as it started off towards Heathrow airport.

No way was he staying behind this summer.


	6. Chapter 6

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Six

7:00 pm, Crete, Greece.

Sarah and Becker sat at their table for two in the restaurant in their hotel. It was an al fresco place built overlooking the Aegean sea, now glistening in the moonlight. To start with, the waiter brought them two bowls of Kotosoupa (Greek chicken soup), followed by monkfish on potato cakes.

The atmosphere was very romantic, but Sarah had remained silent throughout most of the meal. Becker knew what was wrong and spoke up.

"Sarah look, I'm sorrry about earlier. I know I was a bit unenthusiastic." Sarah looked up at him.

"It's just that I really want this to be romantic holiday for us" continued Becker. "And when we agreed to come to Crete for the summer, I always imagined that we would get straight to the sandy beaches and the clear blue oceans and everything."

Sarah smiled. "I understand Becker. Looking back, I guess I should have asked what you wanted to do. But when we got here, I was just so excited about seeing all of these historical sights, I sort of forgot that this was supposed to be for both of us. I'm sorry too Becker."

Becker smiled, which told Sarah that he forgave her. They raised their glasses full of wine and made a toast.

However, no sooner had they swallowed their drinks, a blood curdling scream sounded from Knossos. Diners and waiters alike turned their heads in that direction, including Sarah and Becker.

"What was that?" said Sarah.

Her question was answered about fifteen minutes later when all the diners left their tables and headed for the hotel lobby. As Sarah and Becker entered the lobby, they saw a teenage boy lying on the floor in a bloody white t-shirt. Two hotel staff members were standing by him, while a third was on the phone to the hospital.

Sarah noticed that the boy was gibbering something in Greek. Going as close as she dared, she bent down and asked him a question.

"What happened?" she asked him. He answered with a single word.

"Mino-minotauros"

"What did he say?" asked Becker as Sarah rejoined the horrified hotel guests.

"Minotauros" said Sarah. "In english, it translates as minotaur."


	7. Chapter 7

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Seven

Puffing and panting, Rex flapped the last few feet of his journey, the island of Santa Cruz was almost directly below him now.

He was exhausted, yesterday, he had flown alongside the Temple's plane to Ecuador for twelve, long hours. He'd been completely shattered by the time they had arrived at Quito airport. Then he had spent an uncomfortable journey on top of a taxi which had taken them along a bumpy road to the coastal city of Manta. After that he had spent the night on the roof of the holiday inn, constantly being woken up by curious vampire bats. The next morning, still feeling washed out, he had followed the Temples to a helipad. Much to his dismay, he was unable to get inside the helicopter in time and had been forced to fly alongside it for the past hour and a half, even though his wings felt so weak he felt like they might drop off at any minute. But everytime he had felt that, he had forced himself to continue onwards, lest he fall into the sea and drown.

Finally though, he had arrived at Santa Cruz. Frigate birds, albatrosses and blue footed boobies soared around him, staring at the flying lizard as they passed him.

Below him, Rex saw the Temples exiting the helicopter and heading for the boardwalk. Tired from flying, Rex let his wings give way and plummeted out of the sky directly on to the sand next to the boardwalk. Abby heard the thump and turned in that direction.

"Rex" gurgled Nick as he saw him.

"Rex" gasped Abby, "Oh my God, what are you doing here? You look exhausted!"

Rex chirped the chirp of a lizard who has earned a holiday with his owners. It was a long and exhausting flight but he had made it.

* * * * * *

After handing Rex over to Connor, Abby and Nick took a look at the island paradise they had landed on. It was almost exactly as Abby remembered it. The sky was full of noisy sea birds, brightly coloured crabs scuttled along the beach and in the distance, Abby and Nick thought they could see a gang of marine iguanas diving for seaweed, only to surface ten minutes later and swim back to their volcanic rocks. But there was one thing that was different to when Abby had last come here, there seemed to be an enormous amount of people, crowding the boardwalks and creating long qeues for the tour boats.

"Excuse me" said Abby to a nearby tour guide with a clipboard. He turned around and adressed her.

"Ah, you are Mrs. Temple si?"

"Yes, that's me" said Abby, "This is my son Nick, and over there is my husband Connor. That's our lizard he's holding by the way, we didn't steal one from here."

"Well I'm glad to here that, senorita" said the tour guide. "My name is Pedro, I will be your tour guide during your stay here at the Galapogos islands."

"I see" said Abby. "But before we get on our boat Pedro, could you please tell me why so many people are qeuing up to get on the tour boats. It's just that last time I came here there weren't nearly as many people here."

Pedro sighed and looked around before answering Abby's question.

"These people, they Americano, and British like you. Some come to see Galapogos islands themselves. Others, they come to see..." He lowered his voice before continuing. "They come to see the Santa Cruz sea serpent."

"Santa Cruz sea serpent?" said Abby quizzically.

"Si senorita" said Pedro solemnly. "They no want to see Galapogos, they want only photos to show folk back home." He looked at his watch, "I should be getting on the boat. I see you later, Mrs. Temple."

"What's going on?" asked Connor as he came up to Abby. Abby turned around with a solemn look on her face.

"I think there's an anomaly here, Connor!"

* * * * * *

Half an hour later, the Temples found themselves on a tour boat jam packed with brash, noisy tourists like the ones Pedro had described. Rex was fast asleep around Abby's neck, Nick meanwhile was asleep in the little baby harness Abby carried on her back, jet lag was taking its effect on him.

"Ok folks" said Pedro over the microphone. "If you look to the right side of the boat, you will see a colony of californian sea lions, these are common on all the Galapogos islands."

Some of the tourists headed over to Abby and Connor's side of the boat, the rest remained on the other side, scanning the water for the so-called sea serpent.

Meanwhile, Abby and Connor both gazed out at the sea lions, watching as the adults lounged on the rocks while the pups and few mothers frolicked in the waves that were crashing against the coastline. Suddenly, one of the mother sea lions surfaced and barked with agitation, then along with her pup, she headed back to the rocks. She was followed by the rest of the sea lions. Soon they were all on dry land, except for one pup who seemed to be having trouble keeping up.

Soon, Abby saw the reason for the sea lion's agitation swim out from under the boat. A large hammerhead shark was heading straight for the lone pup, every sweep of its powerful tail bringing it closer and closer. In a matter of minutes the pup would be its.

Just before the shark could grab the sea lion though, the water around it exploded, sending a tidal wave of white foam onto Abby, Connor and the rest of the tourists on that side of the boat. By the time Abby and Connor had rubbed the water out of their eyes, the rest of the tourists had come over to their side and the cameras were flashing like mad. The reason being soon became obvious to them.

Sticking out of the water was a long, sinous, bluish-green body. Further up it on either side was a wide, translucent, fish like fin. Further up still was the creature's most terrifying feature. It had a head similar to a sea snake's, with yellow, slits-for-pupils eyes and a mouth filled withfangs the length of carving knives. On either side of its head was a green, feathery gill. In its mouth, writhing to get away, was the shark.

For a moment, the Santa Cruz sea serpent swayed slowly from side to side, then suddenly it seemed to notice the wriggling shark it had just caught. It bit down twice and the shark went limp. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the sea serpent dived back down into the depths. For a moment, there was silence, then a great uproar went up as tourists cheered.

However, Abby and Connor were not cheering. Instead, they were looking at each other with looks of horror on their faces. Their worst nightmare had come true, the future anomaly was here at the Galapogos!


	8. Chapter 8

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Eight

The sun was setting over Lakebed, turning the sky around it a peaceful lilac and bringing a coolness to the previously sweltering desert.

Along a dusty track, Danny Quinn was making his way back to Lakebed. He had spent the day trekking through the scrublands with nothing more than a backpack and a bottle of water, just his kind of day, even if it did sort of remind him of the time when he had ridden a mother ancylotherium through the even hotter Triassic desert. What's more, he had not seen or heard anything of the strange animal that people were reported to have seen. Now he was looking forward to a cool shower and an early night in his motel room, and in about half an hour at the most, he would have both of those.

Suddenly, from a nearby patch of scrub, there came a rustling sound. Danny turned in that direction, when he saw nothing, he hoped it had just been a jack rabbit, or a pack rat. Unfortunately, a low growl soon put these thoughts out of his mind, as did the sight of an enormous spotted cat leaping out of the scrub. Danny only just managed to avoid it.

As the creature landed, Danny was immediately able to identify it, smilodon fatalis, the sabre-toothed tiger. Danny had read about these in the ARC creature files but he had a feeling that anyone would be able to identify this creature.

Snarling, the smilodon circled Danny, never taking his eyes off him. Then suddenly, he charged him and lunged. Once more Danny was able to dodge the attack, but this time, the smilodon's claws scraped across the left side of his chest. Crying out in pain, he fell on his knees and pressed his hand to the wound.

Then through the pain, he remembered that there was a hungry sabre-toothed tiger nearby. Turning around, he saw that he was staring intently at him from a distance, checking out how badly wounded he was. Then he started towards him, slowly at first, but then he started to pick up speed, soon he was charging towards him at full speed.

Quickly, Danny tried to remember what he had read about the weaknesses of these creatures, he could only remember one but with any luck it would be useful. Smilodon's sabres were incredibly weak and liable to break if they came into contact with hard bone.

Danny didn't have a bone, but all around him, there were plenty of reddish, fist sized rocks. Gingerly, Danny picked one up and then turned back to the smilodon, now preparing to pounce. As quick as his wound would allow him, Danny hurled the rock directly at the creatures mouth.

His aim was true. The rock hit the smilodon's left sabre, sending it plumetting downwards so that it buried itself in the sand. The smilodon roared in agony and collapsed on to his belly, his front paws holding his mouth, his gums were now bleeding from the missing tooth socket. While the cat groaned in agony, Danny went up and pulled the sabre out of the ground. Then as quick as he could, he made his way back to Lakebed.

* * * * * *

Back in his motel room, Danny examined his wounds in the mirror. Fortunately, they did not appear to be too deep and the antiseptic in the medicine cupboard should be able to fix it.

But it was not his wounds that Danny was worried about, it was the smilodon that was still out there in the desert. Danny looked down at the edge of the sink, the smilodon tooth was right where he'd left it. But with or without that sabre, Danny had no doubt that the creature would still be able to hunt effectively with one sabre. And if that was true, then it wouldn't be long before it made its way to Lakebed, where there was easy prey for it.

But that prey would only be easy for as long as Danny wasn't there to protect it. Tomorrow, he would be going to the gun store and buying a gun, which could very easily be bought here in America.

It would just be like old times.


	9. Chapter 9

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Nine

In Knossos, an investigation was taking place.

According to the teenager, the attack had taken place just at the entrance to the crumbling labyrinth. Already officers of the Cretan police force had been inside the labyrinth for at least two hours, now they were exiting it.

From behind the 'crime scene, do not enter' tape that had ben placed all around the perimeter, Sarah and Becker watched the whole thing. Now as the police exited Knossos, Becker went up to one of them and asked if they had found anything, relying heavily on his Greek phrasebook. Loosely translated, the conversation went something like this:

"Officer, we heard about what happened last night. Did you find anything?"

"No sir, we've searched the entire labyrinth, including the centre, but we have found nothing."

"Not even clues about the attacker?"

"Well, the boy said he was attacked by a minotaur, but naturally we didn't believe that. I mean why would we? But to answer your question, no, we have found no clues as to who the attacker was. The floors of the labyrinth are made of stone, so there's no footprints. The only clue we have about the attacker is that they used a series of sharp weapons to attack the boy, nothing else could have cut him up that badly."

As the police officers left, Becker turned to Sarah.

"Yesterday, when we were here, I saw what I thought was just the sun glinting off something in the centre of the labyrinth."

"Yes, so what does that mean?" said Sarah, although she had a feeling she already knew.

'I think that was an anomaly" said Becker, "In fact I'm sure it was."

Sarah groaned and looked down at the ground. Then she looked back up at Becker.

"Come on, we're off to the library!"

* * * * * *

Becker could not remember a time when he was more bored than when he was sitting in the hotel's library.

It wasn't that he didn't like reading, when he wasn't working, there were times when he did like to relax with a book. But all the books in the library were in Greek, so only Sarah could read them. The books she was reading were mainly ones about prehistoric creatures, of which there were only three in the whole library. But to her right, a fourth book lay open, entitled 'the Many Monsters of Ancient Greece'. Fairly needless to say, Sarah had opened to a picture of the minotaur devouring a victim.

At some point, Becker must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, Sarah was shaking him awake.

"Wake up Becker, I've found it!" she said excitedly.

After wiping away some dried spit from the corner of his mouth, Becker took a look at the picture Sarah was pointing at. It was one of a dinosaur which looked a bit like a small tyrannosaurus, but with important differences. For a start, the arms were longer than a tyrannosaur's and had five fingers on each hand instead of two. More noticeable however, were the short, curling horns on the creature's head.

"This is it" said Sarah, "Carnotaurus, the basis for the minotaur."

Becker looked at the picture of the carnotaurus, then at the one of the minotaur.

"It looks nothing like a minotaur except for the horns!"

"Yes, but think about it Becker. In Ancient Greece there was no knowledge of anything walking on two legs apart from humans. A human was the closest thing they could compare a carnotaurus body to! And thinking about it, apart from the main body, there's quite a few similarities between a carnotaurus and a minotaur. I mean they've both got horns and ten fingers, and they both eat meat. And according to 'the Many Monsters of Ancient Greece', the minotaur was about three metres tall, so is a carnotaurus!"

"But I don't understand" said Becker. "The police did a thorough search, wouldn't they have found a dinosaur by now."

"They only searched the labyrinth, because that's where the attack took place" Sarah corrected him. "For all we know, the carnotaurus may have moved somewhere else in Knossos before they got there." She got up and headed towards the library door.

"Are you coming, soldier boy?" she said playfully.

"Don't call me that, please" said Becker, smiling as he followed Sarah out of the library.


	10. Chapter 10

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Ten

It was now one day after the first sighting of the Santa Cuz sea serpent. According to Connor, the creature's feathery gills told him that it was descended from the greater siren, an carnivorous, eel like amphibian, the largest in modern day America.

But that wasn't what was important, what was important was finding the creature and either getting it back through its anomaly, or destroying it before it killed someone. That morning, Abby and Connor were among the first people to grab their snorkels and hit the water. Nick and Rex were being looked after by Pedro. The waters around Santa Cruz were beautiful, brightly coloured fish were everywhere, and the local penguins and sea lions were quick to take advantage of them, shooting around in the water like torpedoes. Below it all, a huge manta ray glided just above the seabed.

It was beautiful, but Abby and Connor knew that they could not stay and admire it. While the rest of the snorkelers admired the manta ray, Abby and Connor swam a fair distance away from them along the shore, looking for the Santa Cruz sea serpent and its anomaly. For a while, they found nothing except for seaweed, small fish and at one point, a marine iguana. But then, just as they were beginning to think about getting back to the boat, they stumbled across a flock of galapogos penguins. This would not have seemed unusual had Abby not noticed something about the penguins' behaviour. Grabbing Connor by the arm, she righted them both and took out her mouthpiece so she could talk to him.

"Connor, those penguins"

"What about them?" said Connor.

"Look at them" said Abby, putting her mouthpiece back in. As she and Connor went back underwater again, she pointed at the penguins.

At first, Connor noticed nothing unusual about them, then he realised that it wasn't the penguins themselves that Abby was pointing at, it was at something beyond them. In an area of water just behind the penguins, there were loads of fish swimming about, but for some strange reason, the penguins weren't going near them.

"Do you see what I mean, Con?' asked Abby when they surfaced again.

"Yeah I do" said Connor.

'Why wouldn't they attack those fish?" asked Abby.

"Let's find out" said Connor.

Swimming past the penguins, Abby and Connor soon discovered the reason for their reluctance to harvest the fish. As they neared the area where the fish were, they noticed that the previously cold water was becoming warmer and warmer. The warm water appeared to be coming from behind a nearby headland bordering a lagoon.

Abby had a feeling that the anomaly was responsible for the flow of warm water, and she started on her way around the headland. But then suddenly, Connor grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her back.

"Con, what the-" began Abby, her speech slightly muffled by her mouthpiece. Connor placed a finger to his lips signalling her to be quiet before taking her further along the headland. Soon the reason for Connor's actions became clear. The fish scattered as an olive ridley turtle shot out along a stream of warm water. It was followed immediately afterwards by the fanged maw, yellow eyes, feathery gills, fish like fins and sinous body of the Santa Cruz sea serpent. Connor held Abby until the sea serpent was well on its way after the turtle, then he let her go.

Quickly, Abby and Connor swam around the headland. As they did so, they were emersed by the warm water flowing from the anomaly directly in front of them.


	11. Chapter 11

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Eleven

Thanks to his ID as a soldier, Becker was able to get past the 'crime scene, do not cross' tape, Sarah on the other hand had to wait outside it, watching him intently and hoping that nothing went wrong.

Becker however was greatly frustrated. Since he had no idea where in a historical sight a Cretaceous period dinosaur might like to lurk, he had had to search all around Knossos, under the blazing, Greek, afternoon sun. More importantly, he wasn't sure what to do if the carnotaurus decided to attack him. He didn't have his gun with him or any other weapons for that matter, he wouldn't stand a chance.

At last, having searched everywhere else in Knossos, Becker came to a small stairwell which lead to an underground chamber. According to the sign, it had once been used to store wine barrels, but a low, throaty breathing told Becker that it contained more than that now. Cautiously, he descended the stairwell until he came to a wooden door at the foot of it. The door was wide open, beyond it was almost pitch blackness, but there was enough light for Becker to see the sleeping carnotaurus in front of him.

It looked almost exactly as it had in the picture, with a tyrannosaur like body and five fingers on each hand. Its skin was a light tan colour, just as the skin of the ancient Greeks would have been. On its head a pair of pearly white horns curled upwards. Its long tail twitched like a cat's as it snored, as an annoying fly landed on its left horn, it shook it off as a bull will do. Then it opened its mouth and licked its long, sharp teeth, before closing it again and resuming its snoring.

As a soldier, Becker was trained not to be scared by such things, and he had seen more terrifying creatures back home in Britain while working at the ARC. But looking at this beast sleeping just in front of him still made him a little nervous, especially thinking about how badly it had cut up that boy last night.

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Becker reached over to the door and attempted to close it. It creaked loudly as he did so. Nervously, he looked back into the chamber to check on the carnotaurus. It stirred a little but it did not wake up. Becker closed the door and then, just to make sure that it didn't escape, he placed a large brick just in front of the door. Then he quickly ran back up the stairwell and under the 'crime scene, do no enter' tape.

"Well, did you find it?" asked Sarah.

"Oh I found it alright" said Becker. "And with any luck, we'll be able to keep it where it is until an anomaly to the Cretaceous opens up."

But even as he said those words, Becker had doubts that they were true.


	12. Chapter 12

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twelve

Danny pulled up in front of his motel.

This morning, he had gone down to the local gun store and bought a pistol and a pack of bullets. After that, he had gone down to the mountain bike rentals not far from the motel and bought a bike to go around town on. All day, he had been patrolling the edges of Lakebed looking out for the smilodon, preparing to shoot if he saw it, but he had not found it. Then he had cycled around the whole town but had still found nothing.

Now he had returned to his motel. After having a showe and getting changed, he went over to the window of his room and looked out over the desert. No sign of the smilodon there either.

"Maybe it's given up" said Danny to himself. "Maybe it can't hunt too well without its sabre, so its decided to go back through its anomaly."

But somehow, Danny was doubtful of that. As he climbed into bed, he decided that tomorrow, he would go out into the desert on his bike and look for the creature, and the anomaly.

* * * * * *

The reason Danny had not found the smilodon was because it was waiting.

Last night when it had attacked, it had been at dusk, far too light for effective hunting. In most situations, the prey would have escaped, and it had, but it had also done something far worse. There is no greater shame for a smilodon than to lose one of its sabre teeth, and now, thanks to that human, the smilodon had experienced that shame. It could never show its face in the Pleistocene now.

But there was something it could do. As soon as Lakebed was swamped in darkness, he would head straight for it. He had seen Danny cycling around the edge of the town and he would follow the scent trail. When he found out where he was staying, the smilodon would break into that place and take that human for himself. He did not want any old human now, he wanted this human, Danny Quinn. And before this was over, he would have him!

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**Will Abby and Connor get the Santa Cruz sea serpent back through its anomaly? Will the smilodon succeed in killing Danny? And can Sarah and Becker contain a carnotaurus with all the fury of a minotaur? Find out when I come back from abroad in a month. Until then, do not expect any more Jenny Lewis Chronicles or chapters of Primeval Abroad.**


	13. Chapter 13

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Thirteen

**Well, I'm back. And here is the long awaited chapter thirteen of Primeval Abroad.**

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Back at the hotel in Crete, Becker was feeling uneasy, uneasy about the carnotaurus he had supposedly imprisoned in the wine cellar at Knossos. He hoped that that brick would keep it barricaded in there until another anomaly to the cretaceous appeared. But he didn't feel that it would really.

Sarah for her part did not really seem to notice it much. She was busy reading the local newspaper. This surprised Becker, Sarah did not usually like reading any newspaper, as she felt that there was no point seeing as the news was always bad these days. But this time, she seemed engrossed in it, and in one article in particular.

"Becker, look at this" she said at last. Becker slid off the bed and went over to her. He saw Sarah pointing at the article she was reading. It was a smalll article written entirely in Greek and with a small picture of a ball of golden twine.

"It says here that archeologists recently discovered the mythical ball of twine that Theseus used in his quest to slay the minotaur."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Becker.

"The ball of twine was used by Theseus to lead him to the centre of the labyrinth" read Sarah. "Where the minotaur most liked to lurk." She turned back to Becker. "You saw the anomaly in the centre of the labyrinth, right?"

"Yes" said Becker.

"So what if it appears there again?" said Sarah. "We could use the twine to lead us there and send the carnotaurus back."

"But a ball of twine leading someone into the heart of a great big maze, that's just a story isn't it?" said Becker.

"There's only one way to find out" said Sarah. "It says here that the twine is currently being kept at Knossos, from where it will be sent to the museum of Greek history in Athens." She put down the newspaper and headed for the door of their room, picking up the keycard as she did.

"Looks like we'll be needing that soldier ID of yours again."


	14. Chapter 14

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Fourteen

For several moments, Abby and Connor remained where they were. Even though they had seen many anomalies before, they still couldn't help but be entranced by them. The way they always flickered about and shone like a sort of minature sun. And the warm water that was constantly flowing from it only entranced them further.

But then they came to their senses once more as a low rumble sounded from behind them. They turned to see the Santa Cruz sea serpent swimming towards them. It had apparently failed in its hunt for the sea turtle because it now carried in its jaws a young manta ray. When it saw Abby and Connor near the anomaly, it growled at them, warning them to get away from it. Connor took the warning and dragged his wife to the right, so that they were just next to the anomaly.

With that sorted, the sea serpent made its move. A few flicks of its feathery tail were all it took to propel it forwards through the anomaly. Once it was through, Abby and Connor swam back in front of it. For a few moments, they hovered there once more, then they both headed for the surface.

"Has it gone?" asked Abby.

"I don't think so" said Connor grimly. "But I think I've got a theory about it."

* * * * * *

Back on the boat, Connor was on his ever trusty laptop, doing some research on the sea serpent's ancestor, the greater siren.

Abby came into the cabin. She was holding baby Nick in her arms, Rex was draped around her neck, they were both fast asleep.

"So, are you going to tell me your little theory then?" asked Abby as she placed Nick in the little carrier basket that served as his bed. Connor turned to her.

"You know how I said that the sea serpent was a descendent of the greater siren?" he said. Abby nodded.

"Well, that's an amphibian right, so it would be cold blooded" continued Connor. "So unless there's been an evolutionary change in blood temperature, I reckon that the sea serpent would also be cold blooded."

"So that's why it has to keep going back through the anomaly" said Abby. "It can't survive here for too long, it needs to have some warmth."

"Exactly" said Connor.

"So how are we going to make sure it stays in the future?" asked Abby.

"I think I've got an idea about that" said Connor. He got up and headed out of the cabin, Abby followed.

* * * * * *

On deck, Connor headed for a small box kept just next to the boat's main control room. He opened it to reveal several long rods with things that looked like light bulb filaments on the ends. Connor reached in and picked one out before turning back to Abby.

"Shark taser" he said pointing at it. "They use it in case sharks start getting nasty, it generates a small amount of electricity which is usually enough to discourage them."

"So what, are we going to zap the sea serpent back through the anomaly or something?" said Abby.

"No" said Connor. "We're going to wait for it to go back through the anomaly, and that's when we use these things to lock it."

Abby smiled and hugged Connor.

"That's why I love you Connor, you're smart and cute."

"I do my best" said Connor.


	15. Chapter 15

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Fifteen

It was dusk when Sarah and Becker set out from their hotel, by the time they reached Knossos, it was early evening.

The 'crime scene, do not enter' tape was still up, but the good news was that the policeman on duty was now leaving. That gave Sarah and Becker a few moments to enter Knossos and find the twine, wherever it was. Becker dashed up to the tape and held it up, Sarah ran underneath it, then he followed.

"So where do we start looking?" Becker asked.

"I think the newspaper said that the twine was being kept in the great hall of the palace" said Sarah. She pointed to the crumbling remains of the Knossos palace. "Over there!"

Quickly, she and Becker dashed up the small flight of stairs into the palace. They entered a small room with crumbling walls and a large hole in the ceiling.

'Hardly a great hall' thought Becker. But then, he and Sarah caught sight of a small pedestal in the centre of the room, on top of which was a small, wooden box. Slowly Sarah went up to it. Nervously, she held out both hands and with trembling fingers, opened the box.

What she and Becker saw was apparently an ordinary ball of faded yellow twine. But minutes after opening the box, it soon became obvious that it was anything but normal. The twine started to glow an ethereal golden glow, as well as to hum softly. At first it did so within the box, but then slowly, it started to rise upwards. Soon it was levitating in mid air right in front of Sarah and Becker's astonished eyes.

"Wow" gasped Becker, "That's just...I mean it's impossible but...it's so..."

"Incredible" breathed Sarah. Slowly, she reached out towards the floating twine and grasped it in her hand.

No sooner had she done so though, a dull roar sounded from outside.

"What was that?" she asked. Becker groaned and looked at the floor.

"Sarah, when I said I had that carnotaurus contained, I wasn't completely sure of that myself. I found it in a wine cellar and put a brick in front of the door. I hoped that would barricade it in, but I'm not sure it will."

Sarah gasped and put her free hand to her mouth. Then she took it away and sighed.

"Then it's all the more important that we find out if this ball of twine works" she said. "Come on."

She headed for the palace door. As she and Becker exited it though, they heard someone shouting at them in Greek. They looked to see the replacement policeman heading for them, shouting and waving his arms about.

"He must think we're vandals or something" said Becker.

Whether this was true however, neither Sarah nor Becker would ever know. For as the policeman passed the wine cellar, the dull roar sounded again. He stopped and turned in the direction it had come from, a poor decision. With a loud crash, the carnotaurus smashed through the wooden door of the cellar and charged out at the policeman. Its horns knocked him to the ground, it placed one three toed foot on his chest and then lunged.

While the carnotaurus fed on the policeman, Sarah and Becker headed down the stairs of the palace.

"What now?" asked Becker.

Sarah did not answer but instead looked at the glowing twine she now held in her hand. She headed straight for the labyrinth. Once she reached the entrance, she turned to Becker. She took one end of the twine and handed it to him.

"Tie it to something."

Becker bent down and tied his end of the twine to a rock. Meanwhile, Sarah dashed over to the feeding carnotaurus.

"Hey!" she cried. "Over here, here's dessert for you!"

The carnotaurus looked up from the policeman it had been eating. It had poor eyesight but its nose could pick up the scent of a female human. Young and fresh, not like this policeman it was eating. She would be a much more satisfying meal. With a roar, the carnotaurus abandoned its kill and charged at Sarah. She in turn turned and ran back to a horrified Becker.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"The labyrinth was mean to be almost innavigational" said Sarah hastily. "If I can lure the carnotaurus into the centre of it, then maybe it'll get lost and we can keep it there until the anomaly opens again."

"No!" hissed Becker. "It's too risky, I won't let you!"

"You've got too" said Sarah. "Otherwise that thing could kill many more people." She pointed to the twine Becker held in his hand. "Drop it."

Reluctantly, Becker did as he was told. The twine stayed where it was for a moment, then it rolled on its own toward the entrance to the labyrinth, leaving a trail behind it.

"I'll be back soon" said Sarah. She stood up on tiptoes and planted a small kiss on Becker's lips. Then she turned and ran into the labyrinth with the carnotaurus in hot pursuit, leaving a dazed Becker behind.


	16. Chapter 16

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Sixteen

It was Abby and Connor's last day at Santa Cruz. Tomorrow they would be leaving for the island of Rabida, which was miles away from the anomaly and the sea serpent. So it was vital that they got it back through the anomaly today. Fortunately, the tour boat was now directly in front of the lagoon where the anomaly was, so hopefully this wouldn't take long. All they had to do was wait for the sea serpent to leave the anomaly site, then they would just swim for the anomaly and wait by it until it returned through it. After that, they would lock the anomaly with the shark tasers that they had managed to keep hidden from Pedro.

Now they were in the first waiting stage of their plan. It was late morning and there was currently no sign on the sea serpent. Connor stood at the edge of the boat, staring at the sea in search of it. Meanwhile, Abby sat on a hard plastic chair and nursed Nick, still weary with jet lag. Then suddenly, an American woman on the other side of the boat started screaming.

"Look everybody, it's the sea serpent."

Abby and Connor wasted no time in dashing for the other side of the boat along with the rest of the tourists. In the water, they could see the Santa Cruz sea serpent in hot pursuit of another turtle. Soon, it had swum under the boat and was heading out to open sea.

Soon afterwards, it was snorkelling time for the toursits. Abby took Nick back into their cabin and placed him in his carrier basket. Then she came back to the deck, where Connor was waiting for her with two pairs of flippers and two masks. In a matter of minutes, they were both treading water next to the anomaly.

"Connor" said Abby.

"Yes"

"Do you think Nick will be alright on his own?"

"Of course he'll be ok" said Connor, cheerful as ever. "He's got Rex to keep him company, and if he needs anything then Pedro knows what to do. Don't worry Abby, I'm sure he'll be fine."

* * * * * *

Out at sea, the Santa Cruz sea serpent was losing its prey. It was a fast swimmer, but the sea turtle was even faster and soon it had disappeared into the gloom. Frustrated, the sea serpent looked around for something else to eat. Looking up it saw a lone booby swimming about on the surface, instantly it shot upwards towards it.

Unfortunately it was too hasty, and it had misjudged its attack. Its jaws exploded from the water just behind the booby. The terrified bird took to the air and headed for land as fast as its wings could carry it.

The sea serpent raised its head out of the water and glared at its escaping quarry, at those blue feet that were practically teasing it. Then it noticed something else, the tour boat just at the mouth of the lagoon. It had seen that boat several times now, but it had never paid that much attention to it. But now it remembered, there were humans on that boat, and a lizard about the same size as the marine iguanas the sea serpent had become quite partial to. The sea serpent had never tried human flesh before, but it was hungry and that boat and everything on it was now a sitting duck. Now was its chance to find out what human flesh was like.

It dipped its head back beneath the waves and swam straight for the boat.


	17. Chapter 17

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Seventeen

Danny Quinn was awakened by a low thud. He sat up in bed to see the drainpipe outside his window shuddering violently. He hoped it was nothing, but that thought was quickly put out of his mind by an all too familiar growl.

Cautiously he went over to the window and looked out as far as he dared. Looking down, he saw a frightening and unusual sight: the smilodon. It was climbing up the wall, using its long claws like pick axes. Its wide eyes glared up at Danny with intense hatred, anyone could see that it was just itching to get its remaining sabre into his neck.

Danny wasted no time. He dashed over to his wardrobe and quickly pulled on a t-shirt and trainers. He didn't bother with socks and his pyjama bottoms would have to make do as trousers. Once that was done, he hurried into the bathroom and snatched both his pistol and the sabre tooth from the edge of the sink.

As he exited the bathroom, he heard the growl again, this time much closer than when he had last heard it. He turned around to see that the smilodon was now hauling itself up on to the windowsill, soon it would be inside the room. Danny aimed his pistol at it and fired. The bullet smacked into the smilodon's fleshy nose. It roared in pain and let go of the windowsill. Whether it would survive the fall, Danny didn't know. But he had to, for the sake of both himself and the people of Lakebed.

Quickly, he dashed down the corridor and then the staircase which led to the motel lobby. He burst out the door and grabbed his bike. As he mounted it, he looked behind him to see the smilodon struggling to its feet, blood dripping from its nose. Danny took off on his bike just as the smilodon raised its head and saw it quarry getting away. It roared in fury and started after Danny.

The chase was on!


	18. Chapter 18

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Eighteen

All was calm on board the tour boat. Lunch was being served, small trays of empanadas (meat and cheese filled pastries) and llapingachos (potato and cheese pancakes) were laid out on the table. A large steaming pot of locro soup was placed in the centre, around it were plates of seco de chivo (goat stew), ceviche (Ecuadorian sushi) and choclo (barbecued corn).

As he chewed on an empanada, Pedro gazed out across the lagoon to the two British tourists whose baby and lizard he had been watching. He wondered what they could possibly be doing out there. Everyone else had clambered on to the boat and were helping themselves to lunch, but those two just seemed to be treading water at the base of the cliff face that fringed the edges of the lagoon. As well as that, two of his shark tasers had gone missing, and he had a pretty good mind as to where they had gone.

Suddenly something crashed into the boat, causing it to rock violently. Pedro's empanada flew out of his hand and fell with a plop into the water, where it would sink to the bottom and later be found and eaten by a hungry grouper. He looked behind him. many of the tourists hand been thorn to the deck by the impact, and now they were clambering to their feet and running the other side to see what was going on. Quite a bit of the food had been thrown about as well, including most of the locro soup, which was now trickling along the deck and into the sea.

Quickly, Pedro joined the tourists on the edge of the boat. Looking down into the water, he saw a large patch of bubbles forming, something was coming up. Minutes later, the fanged maw and sinous body of the Santa Cruz sea serpent rose from the bubble patch. There were gasps of amazement and awe as the creature raised what must had been half of its body out of the water and peered down at the toruists. For a moment, everyone present stayed still. Then a fat man in an ugly tropical shirt did something extremely stupid.

"Say cheese!" he shouted.

He raised his camera and pressed the button. The white flash that followed was all it took to propel the sea serpent into action. With a gurgling roar, it lunged forward and grabbed the man in its jaws. Screaming, he was lifted up off the deck and shaken about violently, then the sea serpent threw back its head and swallowed him whole.

Nobody stayed around to take pictures after that. They all started screaming and trying to get down belowdecks as fast as they could. In the confusion though, some were easily picked off by the sea serpent. As it swallowed its third tourist, it looked towards Pedro. The glint in its eyes told him that he would be next. As he backed away, he bumped into the table, looking behind him, he saw the half empty bowl of locro soup. And that's when he had an idea.

As the sea serpent lunged for him, Pedro quickly grabbed the pot and hurled its contents at his attacker. The hot soup flew directly into the sea serpent's eyes. It roared in pain and thrashed violently about, before diving back down into the depths.

Now Pedro knew that they could no longer stay at Santa Cruz. He headed for the control room, they would not be leaving for Rabida in the morning, they would be leaving now.

* * * * * *

While Pedro charted a course to Rabida, the sea serpent returned to the surface. Fortunately the sea had washed the hot locro soup out of its eyes, so now it could see its way to rising slowly up to the deck. As it rose though, it noticed some movement through a porthole. Peering through, it saw that little green lizard chirping and running around the floor in circles. Then it saw something else of much greater interest, a human child, small and succulent looking, lying asleep in a little carrier basket. This was too good and oppurtunity to miss. Neither the child nor the lizard would fight back, and the sea serpent didn't have long anyway before it had to return through the anomaly. It might as well enjoy a little snack first.

Slowly, it poised itself into strike mode.


	19. Chapter 19

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Nineteen

Danny looked behind him, the smilodon was still in hot pursuit of him. He was tired and sweaty, he had never cycled so far or so fast in his life, but he knew he had to get the smilodon away from Lakebed and back through its anomaly as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he did not have an anomaly detector with him so he had no idea where the anomaly was, or if it was even open.

The good news was that the smilodon appeared to be falling behind. Danny had read that smilodon were not built for long distance running, and were only fast over short distances. Indeed, this smilodon was puffing and panting heavily and its fast sprinting was now rapidly turning into a slow trot. Danny dared himself to grasp the brakes gently, the bike began to slow down.

That was a mistake. With a final burst of energy, the smilodon burst from the ground it had been standing on and flew throught the air towards Danny. Quickly he turned and started to pick up speed again, but he was too late. The smilodon's claws and sabre met with the back tyre of the bike, the tell tale hissing noise followed. Danny meanwhile was thrown off and sent flying forwards through the air. He landed on the desert floor and skidded a little way before coming to a complete stop.

Turning around, he saw the smilodon lying down behind the bike, panting heavily. Danny struggled to his feet, this time was one of those times where he would have to kill the creature. He took out his pistol, it was a short range one, and from where he was it would not hit anything. He would have to go closer. Slowly he advanced towards the smilodon, when he was within range, he aimed his pistol.

Alas, by that time, the smilodon had regained enough of its strength, and had lost none of its cunning. It levelled out towards Danny, crashing into him and sending him flying backwards. He landed on his back, the pistol flew out his hand and skidded across the desert floor. Danny saw the smilodon walk up to it and sniff it. Then it raised its paw and brought it down on the pistol, the crunching sound that followed told Danny all he needed to know about what was happening to it.

With the pistol destroyed, the smilodon turned its attention to Danny. Now was the chance to avenge its tooth and take back its pride. With a roar that shook the desert, it charged towards its target. All the breath was knocked from Danny's body as the smilodon slammed into his chest and sent him landing on his back. As the smilodon's jaws came down on his throat, he instinctively placed his hand to its own throat.

For several moments these two remained locked in combat, but Danny knew that he could not hold back the smilodon forever, and it had the upper hand now that it was on his chest.

Then he remembered something else. With his free hand, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the smilodon tooth. The rest of the smilodon roared in fury and lunged for his throat, but Danny was ready for it. Quickly, he brought the tooth up and stabbed the smilodon in the nose with it. The cat roared in pain as more blood gushed from its nose like a waterfall, it reared up on two legs but it did not get off.

Danny had an idea. He held the tooth so that it proturded upwards from just above his chest. As the smilodon came back down on him, he closed his eyes and waited.

There was another roar of pain from the smilodon and Danny felt something warm trickling down his arms. He opened his eyes to see the smilodon practically suspended above him. He looked down at his hands, half of the smilodon's tooth was visible, the other half was sticking into its barrel chest. Blood was trickling from the wound and soaking Danny's sleeves.

Gingerly, Danny pulled the tooth from the smilodon's body. It collapsed on top of him immediately afterwards, dead. Danny shoved it off him and looked down at it as more and more blood trickled from its stabbed heart and formed a puddle around it. Danny looked at the tooth he held in his hand, before throwing it down into the dirt next to the smilodon.

"This belongs to you" he whispered.

He turned back to his damaged bike, he picked it up and began to wheel it as best as he could back to Lakebed. Behind him, turkey vultures were circling above the smilodon's body as the sun rose over the dry, dusty hills. A new day was dawning on Texas.


	20. Chapter 20

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twenty

Becker rummaged through the Knossos armoury. Although he had been temporarily dazed by that kiss Sarah had given him, he had soon come to his senses and realised that there was no way she could possibly face that carnotaurus alone, nor was there any way he would let her.

Now he was searching frantically for a weapon, one that wasn't rusting away into oblivion that is. Finally, he found something: a spear, long and with a sharp, barbed end. This would do.

Quickly, he dashed out of the armoury and towards the labyrinth. Luckily for him, the golden twine was still there, leaving a glowing trail for him to follow. He only hoped he was not too late.

* * * * * *

Sarah rounded a corner of the labyrinth as the golden twine unrolled around it. For about the third time, she looked behind her to see if her pursuer was still there. To both her dismay and pleasure, the carnotaurus was still chasing her. Now she knew how those young Athenians must have felt three thousand years ago.

Evnetually, she arrived at the centre of the labyrinth, the ball of twine rolled a little way before coming to a complete stop. As it did so, there came a whoosing sound and right behind the twine, a new anomaly appeared. Sarah laughed a little before a low growl from behind her put the smile off her face. She turned around to see the carnotaurus walking slowly towards her, spittle dripping off its tooth filled jaws.

Now Sarah was really frightened. She now had only two options, she could either go through the anomaly and hope that carnotaurus could follow, despite the fact that it could well lead to somewhere more dangerous than here, like the future. Or she could stay here and be eaten alive. There wasn't really any choice, she would have to go through the anomaly.

Suddenly the carnotaurus roared in pain, a roar which shook the walls of the labyrinth itself. Sarah looked behind it to see Becker poking the end of a spear into the dinosaur's thigh.

"You didn't seriously think I was gonna let you take on him alone, did you?" said Becker.

He yanked the spear out of the carnotaurus' thigh. It turned away from Sarah and towards its attacker. Becker thrust the spear towards the carnotaurus. The tip of it grazed its shoulder. He thrust it out again, but this time, the carnotaurus was ready for it. It twisted its head and grabbed the spear in its jaws, with one bite the tip fell to the ground at its feet. Becker barely had time to take this in before the carnotaurus charged forwards and knocked him to the ground. Next thing he knew its foot was resting firmly on his chest.

As Becker looked up into the creature's face, a realisation came to mind. He was going to die, he was going to die the same way as that policeman had earlier. Becker was not afraid to die, but he really hoped that Sarah would not watch his surely inevitable death.

* * * * * *

Sarah stood where she was, frozen with horror. She had come to Crete to have a romantic holiday with Becker, now she was watching powerless as the carnotaurus prepared to feed on her boyfriend. She would have done anything to prevent it, but her feet were rooted to the spot and nothing came out when she tried to speak.

Suddenly an ear splitting roar sounded from the anomaly behind her. Everyone present, including the carnotaurus looked towards it. Then suddenly, Sarah was knocked sideways as something big and scaly hurtled through the anomaly. The carnotaurus barely had time to roar in horror as an enormous saurian head opened its jaws and grasped it by the tail, before dragging it backwards towards the anomaly.

As the carnotaurus was pulled off of him, Becker sat up to take a look at his dinosaur saviour. He was sure he had seen it before and his thoughts were confirmed by the sight of Mick Harper's camera still skewered on one of the dinosaur's teeth. The carnotaurus wriggled and writhed and roared in pain and fear as the G-Rex pulled it back through the anomaly. Moments later it closed.

Sarah went over to Becker and gently helped him up.

'Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" said Becker as he rose to his feet. He and Sarah both looked at the space where the anomaly had been.

"What was that thing?" asked Sarah.

"An old friend" replied Becker.


	21. Chapter 21

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twenty One

Abby was shooting through the water back to the tour boat. She had never swum so fast in her life.

Earlier, she and Connor had been treading water near the anomaly, waiting for the Santa Cruz sea serpent to return to the lagoon. But then, they had seen it attacking the boat, and at that moment, Abby had wasted no time in getting back there as quickly as possible. Connor naturally was following her (after all, he was Nick's father and cared about him just as much as Abby did), but Abby was swimming much faster, nothing got her going more than the need to protect her son.

Finally though, she clambered on to the boat and pulled off her flippers. Then she dashed on to the deck and towards the cabin areas. Running through the corridors, she saw many of her fellow tourists cowering inside their cabins. After seeing the way the Santa Cruz sea serpent had attacked the boat, she wasn't surprised.

Suddenly there came the sound of glass smashing and the boat lurched violently, throwing Abby to the floor. She quickly picked herself up and ran towards the source of the sound, her cabin. As she reached it, she was greeted with a horrible sight. There were bits of broken glass and knocked over furniture all over the cabin floor, Rex was nowhere to be seen and worst of all, there was the sight of the Santa Cruz sea serpent poking its head through the porthole. Its head was directly above the carrier basket where Nick slept peacefully, and its eyes-bloodshot from when Pedro had thrown soup in them-were regarding the baby hungrily.

"No, get away from him!" screamed Abby.

The sea serpent looked up to see the mother of its prey standing in the doorway, a look of fear and anger on her face. It wasted no time after that. It grabbed the handles of the carrier basket in its jaws and before Abby could stop it, it exited through the porthole with Nick.

Abby dashed to the porthole. There was nothing she could do. She could only watch as the sea serpent jerked its head up and threw the basket into the air. The basket itself turned upside down and soon floated down into the sea. Nick however was falling downwards right into the sea serpents waiting jaws. It closed its eyes and waited to taste the succulent child.

Then suddenly, there came a chirping noise and then...


	22. Chapter 22

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twenty Two

...Rex appeared out of nowhere. He folded in his wings and swooped down towards baby Nick. Extending his claws, he grabbed him by his blue pyjamas.

Meanwhile, the sea serpent had heard Rex's chirps and opened its eyes to see the flying lizard dangling the human baby just out of its reach. Furiously, it struck out at them, jaws wide open. Rex however was ready for it and dodged out of the way just in time But the sea serpent was not one to give up so easily, and it lunged at Rex and Nick again, and again, and again. Each time it lunged, Rex managed to doge out of the way.

But he knew that he could not keep this up forever, Nick was heavy and Rex could only hold on to him and remain airborne for so long. Sooner or later, the sea serpent would get them both. The only thing to do was to get back to the boat and back to Abby. As he turned around to do so, the sea serpent lunged for him. Its teeth managed to nick the end of Rex's tail, causing him to drop out od the sky along with baby Nick.

Fortunately, at that point Abby had dashed out on to the deck, and she caught them both in her arms.

"Nick, Rex, are you alright?" she asked anxiously. Nick stirred, still fast asleep. Rex meanwhile was puffing and panting. Abby looked down at him and smiled.

"Thank you" she whispered, tears of happiness running down her face.

Unfortunately, her happiness did not last long, looking up, she saw the Santa Cruz sea serpent rising up out of the water, glaring down at them with fury in its bloodshot eyes. It was no longer interested in baby Nick alone, now it wanted all three of them. With a gurgling roar, it lunged.


	23. Chapter 23

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twenty Three

Just before it could grab them though, the sea serpent roared again. This time in pain, electrical currents buzzed all around its sinous body. Abby looked down to see Connor in the water, pressing the shark taser to the sea serpent's body. Finally though he took it away and started shouting at the creature.

"Hey, down here! Come after me, leave them alone. I'm much tastier!"

The Santa Cruz sea serpent looked down to see a skinny male human with black hair like the baby's. He was waving around a metal rod like thing and the sea serpent had no doubts that it was that that had electrocuted it. The human turned around and started swimming back towards the lagoon. The sea serpent dived and swam underwater towards him, if he couldn't have the human baby or his mother, he would have his father instead.

Back on the deck, Abby dashed to the other side of the boat. She watched as her husband swam as fast as he could towards the anomaly.

'Dear God, please let him be alright' she begged silently.

* * * * * *

Like Abby, Connor was extremely devoted to protecting his family. Nothing else could have forced him to swim so far so fast, he could swear that he was swimming faster than a galapogos penguin right about now. So far he had not encountered the sea serpent, but he knew that it was chasing him. And judging by the fact that he could not see it from the surface, that could only mean that it was underwater right now.

Suddenly in an explosion of water, his thoughts were confirmed as the Santa Cruz sea serpent broke the surface of the water. Connor looked up to see its angry, bloodshot eyes staring at him, as well as the sea water trickling off its long, sharp fangs. As it lunged for him, Connor did the only thing that he thought would work, he dived. As he reached the sea bed, he felt the water rushing down on to him as the sea serpent's jaws closed just above him. Unfortunately he had not completely eluded it, it was now making its move along the sea bed itself. Its sinous body was perfectly designed for such swimming, and Connor could not hold his breath forever, unlike the sea serpent which had gills and so could breath underwater.

As Connor started running out of air, he looked up to see the anomaly. He had reached it, unfortunately, the tell tale expanding was happening, the anomaly was closing. Connor broke the surface just in front of it, the air tasted sweet after his long swim underwater. Behind him, the Santa Cruz sea serpent rose slowly out of the water. It poised itself to strike. Connor looked up at it.

"Come and get me" he said as he dived for the anomaly.

And the sea serpent struck.

* * * * * *

Back on the boat, Abby and Rex had watched in horror as the Santa Cruz sea serpent lunged for Connor just as he disappeared beneath the waves. Ten minutes had passed since then, and there was no sign of either of them. Pedro came out of the controls room.

"OK people, we're all set, time to head to Rabida!"

Abby turned to him.

"No, we can't go yet, Pedro. My husband is out there, I have to wait for him!"

Pedro looked at Abby sympathetically.

"I'm sorry senorita, but we must leave Santa Cruz now, it isn't safe here anymore. Surely you must understand that."

As Pedro headed back to the controls room, Abby looked sadly down at Nick. He was still fast asleep in her arms, blissfully unaware of everything that had just happened. And to think that when he woke up he would be fatherless. Abby began to sob into her baby's jet black hair, the same colour as Connor's. She didn't want to believe that Connor was dead but what was the point in not accepting it? He had been gone far too long, and Abby knew that she would spend everyday from now on looking at Nick as a way to remind herself of him. She only wished that Nick had also inherited his father's eyes. Those lovely, almond shaped, chocolate brown ones that Abby had always loved, now she would never see them again. There was no other man like Connor, no man whom she would ever take for her husband, or for the father of her children or...

"You alright Abby?"

Abby turned around to see Connor standing behind her, dripping wet and with a triumphant look on his face.

"CONNOR!" screamed Abby. She threw herself into his arms, tears of sheer joy and love trickled down her face.

"I thought you were dead" she sobbed.

"Oh no" said Connor softly. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Did you get it back then?" asked Abby.

"Oh yes" said Connor, holding up the shark taser. "Job well done."

At that moment there came a gurgling sound as Nick stirred awake. Sleepily, he opened his bright blue eyes and gazed up at both of his smiling parents. Connor ruffled his son's hair and turned to Abby.

"Right, time for a real holiday."


	24. Chapter 24

Primeval Abroad

Chapter Twenty Four

1st September, the ARC.

James Lester sat slumped in the chair in his office. He had possibly had the worst summer known to man. All through July and August, he had been here on his own looking after those wretched animals morning, noon and night. During that time he had been butted up the arse by the darcorex who seemed to absolutely hate him for reasons Lester could not possibly imagine. Sid and Nancy were constantly escaping and had now chewed their way through all of Lester's suits, so now he looked like he was wearing a scarecrows outfit. And to cap a rotten summer, during late July, the mammoth had caught a cold and had sneezed all over him. Now Lester was wishing that he still had the team here with him, but no, they had all selfishly gone on holiday and left him. From now on, if any of them ever tried to go on holiday again, they would be fired.

Just then, his secretary Lorainne Wickes came in to his office.

"Yes, Lorainne" groaned Lester, sounding like he was on death's door.

"It's the team sir" said Lorainne somewhat nervously, "They're back!"

At that moment, Lester sat upright in his chair. Looking down at himself, he did his best to smarten himself up.

"Send them all up here, now" he demanded.

Lorainne nodded and left the office. Minutes later, the entire anomaly team entered the room, Danny, Sarah, Becker, Connor and Abby.

"Well,well" groaned Lester. "While I have been slaving away here like a real civil servent, you have all been abroad I hear. Dare I ask how your holidays were?"

The team all looked at each other, which of them would go first?


End file.
